


You're Gonna Need A Bigger Shield

by tiny_tuba



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shark Week (TV), Sharknado (2013), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Author can't write sex, Author sucks at tenses, Crack, Crossover, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Making Out, Sharknado - Freeform, So the author doesn't write sex, The Author Regrets Nothing, Who the Hell is Bucky?, hail HYDRA, nothing major, shark week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-12 04:28:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2095791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_tuba/pseuds/tiny_tuba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve makes a disgruntled sound- “I did not come back to New York for this shit.”</p>
<p>Bucky just barks out a laugh, “Come on, Steve. You knocked Adolf Hitler out over 200 times, a tornado full of sharks should be easy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Gonna Need A Bigger Shield

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hheimdall](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hheimdall).



Steve stops in front of an unremarkable brick building and turns back to look at Bucky.

“Alright, what is this place?”

“Steve, I’m getting sick of this game. Can we just-“

“Please, please Buck? Can you please just try to remember this one? For me?”

Bucky purses his lips, squinting at Steve.

They’ve been touring around New York for _hours_ , trying to regain some of the memories that Hydra had erased. They make progress in fits and bursts- Steve’s art school, the recruitment office where Bucky had enlisted, the corner store butcher shop where they bought raw liver to help with Steve’s anemia.

Sometimes he doesn’t remember places, but fleeting emotions or snippets of a conversation. It could be disconcerting, and Bucky was tired.

He furrows his brow a bit more. Steve begins to look vaguely disappointed.

Bucky realizes with a start that he’d been pouting at Steve without actually giving him an answer.

“Fine. But I’m tired and it’s windy and you promised me dinner and _you owe me_ ,” He tries to sound grumpy, but Steve’s delighted grin tells him he failed to convey it as intended.

Bucky concentrates his pout at the squat and shabby building, as if the sheer power of his duck face could force whatever memory that was laid in with the brickwork to bubble forth. He can distantly feel pressure on his left shoulder as Steve places his hand there, like he’s gently pulling Bucky back in time.

It is so close, it is _so damn close_ , and Bucky can feel it, Bucky can _nearly_ grasp at the memory, because this place is important, it’s a _first_ , he’s sure of that, and he nearly has it-

“SHARK!”

Bucky and Steve both whirl in the direction of the scream, hunkering down into their respective attack and defense stances. Their attention catches on a teenage girl, one trembling hand pointed at the sky.

She’s pointing at a massive tornado spiraling overhead, flecked with writhing shapes.

Steve makes a disgruntled sound- “I did not come back to New York for this shit.”

Bucky just barks out a laugh, “Come on, Steve. You knocked Adolf Hitler out over 200 times, a tornado full of sharks should be easy.”

Bucky is wrong, though. A tornado full of sharks- a sharknado- is not easy at all.

Steve's glad he remembered to bring his shield. He hooks it onto his arm and looks to Bucky, who seems a bit anxious beneath the bravado.

"Well. Cap. What should we do? Admittedly, we can't just punch the shark-filled tornado out of here."

Bucky's brow furrows momentarily when a familiar grin takes over Steve’s face. _God_ , his whole body changed, but that stupid smirk that means Steve is planning on doing something _incredibly dangerous and reckless_ is the same.

"Maybe not the tornado, but we can punch the sharks."

"You’re being ridiculous, you know that?"

Still, Bucky turns away from Steve before lifting his arm-his right arm, his real arm- to hail a cab.

"You’re right; we can’t deal with both parts of this, just call those science guys and get them to deal with the tornado. We just need to move to the center of the city where we can handle the sharks. Hey buddy, take us right to the center of this storm!" That last bit was directed to a startled taxi driver who only agreed to approach the tornado with Bucky’s fifty dollar bill in his wallet.  On the way there, Steve leaves a vague but urgent voice mail with Bruce.

As the cab approaches the center of the city, they realize just how many sharks there really are.

“That’s a shit-ton of sharks,” Bucky says, eloquently.

"Hey, yeah, but look!" Steve points up at the sky the exact moment several delighted children scream _IRON MAN!!!_

And they're right, Iron Man Is whirling about in the storm, deploying small bombs. It seems that their blasts disrupted _whatever_ forces create tornadoes.

(Steve went to art school, damnit. He's an Avenger, not a meteorologist.)

But the tornado dies down. 

It works, they’re not sure _how_ but it works. A lot of sharks land on rooftops or get flung away from the city. Apparently Bruce was on one of those rooftops because soon the Hulk is smashing Great Whites like they’re piñatas. Tony is getting a lot of the sharks that the Hulk misses, but there’s still a good amount plummeting down.

Bucky just starts throwing punches, and it’s highly effective. Steve’s rushing bystanders inside any building that’s open. He flings his shield to keep a hammerhead shark from landing on a terrified group of tourists. After hurrying them into an apartment complex he runs back to Bucky.

Bucky is breathing heavily, but he has a huge grin on his face.

He flexes both of his fists, the metal one scuffed. “I think we got them all.”

It's a perfect moment. Bucky gets hazy half memories of triumphs like this, from the Howling Commando days. He vaguely remembers fighting side-by-side with Steve like this, against ridiculous enemies. He can't stop smiling at Steve.

Steve is about to do _something_ \- hug Bucky or slap him on the back or kiss him- when Bucky sees it.

A Great White shark so big it could’ve been a torpedo and it’s coming _right at them_.

It’s coming right at _Steve_.

Steve may be big and strong now, but he’s still Steve. He's still Steve and he has his back to the monster of a shark. It's _Steve_. Bucky’s always protected him when he could.

Bucky doesn’t even think, he just acts. He pushes Steve roughly to the side and jumps up as high as he can.

He jumps right into the shark's path.

Right into the shark's mouth.

Steve is helpless as he sees Bucky vanish for a second time. This time he isn’t swallowed up by snow and ice, but a huge and gaping maw. The shark’s so huge it doesn’t even have to chew.

He’s gone, just like that.

The shark falls to the ground, the impact like an earthquake. Its eyes go glassy and its tail stops thrashing.

Steve doesn’t care.

Bucky’s gone.

He lost Bucky _again_.

The realization sets in and Steve realizes what that means.

He hits the side of the shark as hard as he can- but the shield only makes welts along the tough shark skin, and soon he throws it to the ground. Steve just claws at the unyielding flesh, desperate. He tries slamming his shoulder into the wall of muscle, like breaking down a door, but that doesn't work either. He becomes panicked.

He claws at it with blunt nails, not even breaking the skin.

How many people has he lost? How many times has he lost Bucky?

Oh god. He's lost Bucky again.

Steve slumps in defeat.

When he leans on the massive beast, he’s parallel to the gills- still flapping, if somewhat erratically. The shark is apparently still trying to breathe, trying to live. It's disgusting.

The shark is disgusting.

The shark.

It’s not the shark.

It’s not _the shark_ that’s moving the gills.

Steve sees a flash of metal as the gill flaps again.

**_“BUCKY?”_ **

In response to the shout, the gills flap more violently, and it confirms the wild, insane, and hopeful idea in Steve’s brain.

_Bucky is punching his way out of the shark._

Frantically, Steve starts pulling at the gills. They're blood red and ragged, and Bucky is nearly visible through them.

Bucky's throwing all his weight into his left hook, frenzied. The entire shark shudders from his slamming fist like it has some violent heartbeat. He's screaming Steve's name and Steve's screaming back.

With a final, mighty blow, Bucky emerges from his fleshy tomb.

Bucky's not gone. Because Bucky will always come back to Steve.

_______________________________________________________________

They’re walking away from the rubble and shark blood, Bucky’s arm making metallic gnashing sounds as it forces bits of shark flesh out of its ridges, as Steve just smiles and suggests where they could go for dinner.

“You were right earlier, I _do_ owe you dinner. There’s this place Tony- that’s Howard’s son, you saw him before- there’s this restaurant that stays open even after something like this. The owner’s this sweet old lady and the food isn't half bad, it’s right over-“

Bucky lurches forward to grab Steve’s arm, his wide eyes unfocused. He’s not looking at the Steve here and now, he’s slipping into his memories and looking at skinny little Steve- hair slicked to the side, clothes a few sizes too big.

He’s pressing a key into Steve’s bony hand.

“Steve, stop talking.”

“Wha-? But I thought you were hungry?”

“ _I remember._ ” Bucky closes his eyes because he’s not sure he trusts them not to let his tears spill over.

He remembers what the plain brick building was.

He remembers the front door that would always stick, and the leaky faucet in the kitchen. He remembers the sharp angles of Steve’s elbows when they huddled together at night on their lumpy mattress. The light from sunrise would always manage to spill onto Bucky’s face no matter where they moved that bed.

“That was our first apartment together, wasn't it?” He peeks at Steve.

Steve looks surprised for a moment, before smiling broadly. He pulls Bucky close, not caring about the shark guts still coating them both.

“Yeah, Buck. It was,” and Steve sounds like he’s going to _cry_.

Steve’s so happy that Bucky remembered that he’s _on the verge of tears_. Bucky wants to hold his face and kiss every tear away, except he can’t.

He can't.

That kind of thing was for behind closed doors, hidden in shadows.

That’s when he remembers something else. Something important.

They’re not in the 1940’s. Things are different.

They don’t have to hide anymore.

Bucky pulls back just enough to be able to kiss Steve sloppily, eagerly. He's still covered in shark blood, but Steve doesn't care. Steve kisses him back, and he gets more memories-

Their first kiss, shy and pure _._

Bucky, nude, posing for Steve’s sketches that he claimed was to practice anatomy.

Their last night together before Bucky’s deployment.

The way they spent the night together after Steve rescued him from the Hydra compound, gentle but desperate.

He pulls away again, and cups Steve's face in his hands. Steve _is_ crying. It's beautiful.

“I’m always gonna be here for you, Steve. I don’t care if it takes another fifty years to remember it all.”

“End of the line and all that?”

“Yeah. End of the line and all that. Now how about that dinner date you owe me?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic to be uploaded to ao3! I'm very proud.  
> Also has anyone read Body Studies by Ark?? I love that fic so much. I even added a reference to it!  
> [cap voice] I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE


End file.
